04 Aug 2022

Payless Supermarket owners and management have been commended for having engineered the survival and rebirth of innovative Payless Grocery Coupon Scheme.

Launching the facility in Gaborone on Wednesday, Minister of Finance, Ms Peggy Serame said the scheme, anchored on a partnership with the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU), would enable teachers who qualified to open a Payless account to buy groceries and pay 30 days later, at no interest.

“Teachers are a critical contributor to our lives, they have made us who we are today,” she said, adding, therefore, that any initiative to improve their lives was a welcome development.

She encouraged those that would take advantage of the scheme, with its generous interest- free credit, to ensure that they service their accounts for the survival of the scheme.

Minister Serame said Payless, as one of the oldest supermarket brands in Botswana, had long been a key player in the landscape of the grocery retail market.

The retail and wholesale sector, she said, had proved to be one of the largest sectors in the economy.

She pointed out that statistics showed that in 2021, the sector accounted for 11.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), being the second largest non-government sector after construction, ‘and slightly larger than mining sector in that year’.

Ms Serame further said over the decade to 2021, the retail and wholesale sector grew at an annual average rate of seven per cent, which she said was the third fastest growth rate of any economic sector over a 10-year period.

Ms Serame said the size and rapid growth of the sector demonstrated that there were many opportunities that Payless Supermarket and others in the sector could take advantage of.

While she commended Payless Supermarket and Botswana Teachers Union  for the coupon initiative, Ms Serame expressed  concern over the rising debt burden among citizens.

She mentioned that the December 2021 Household Indebtedness Survey showed that bank loans to households increased from P48.7 billion in December 2020 to P51.1 billion in October 2021.

“Noteworthy is that, a general expansion in borrowing by households is supportive of economic growth and development, mainly through consumption spending and acquisition of high-value assets,” she said.

However, Ms Serame said there could be an increase in financial risks when higher rates of household credit growth were not supported by an increase in personal incomes.

Nonetheless, she stressed the importance of recalling that credit was a critical part of the functioning of a modern economy, adding that she was delighted that Payless Supermarket became a new player making credit available to meet people’s essential needs.

For his part, the Payless Retail Group chief executive officer, Mr Elliot Moshoke said the scheme was an answer to the current economic climate, coupled with continuing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Moshoke said COVID-19 had reshaped the way consumers were buying groceries, saying at the centre of the conversations about food access, were costs.

He said the scheme would assist with cushioning and helping all government employees not to resort to cash loans, especially for such basic needs as food.

Mr Moshoke said the scheme would assist Batswana overcome debts, enable them to redirect their resources and ensure that they live comfortably. ENDS